Wizer's, Lake Oswego institution, joins other family markets in closing

Robert Bach/The Oregonian/2004Gene Wizer, pictured at his downtown Lake Oswego store, is closing Wizer's Lake Grove Market in about a monthLAKE OSWEGO – Wizer's Lake Grove Market, a family-owned Lake Oswego institution, will close in about a month after about two decades in business.

Owner
Gene Wizer said he decided in late January to not renew the lease on
his Lake Grove store. The recession took its toll on business, which
had declined significantly in the past four years, he said.

No closing date has been set for Wizer's Lake Grove Market.
It depends on how long it will take to liquidate the inventory. Items
at the Lake Grove store will be discounted 20 percent starting Feb. 17.

The 10-year lease expires in May.

Wizer is looking for
jobs for most of the store's 30 to 35 full- and part-time employees,
who will be laid off. A couple of the employees will move to the
downtown store.

"It's very, very difficult for them, and for
me, to do this," said Wizer, who informed employees about the closure
Feb. 9. "I've never really had to lay people off before. I was hoping
somebody else would take over the store and operate it, but in this
case, it's not there."

Wizer discussed selling the store with
five other companies over the past year and a half. He declined to name
the companies but said three of them were local chains, one was a
national one and another was an independent company. All of them
declined, mainly because of the potential cost of renovations and the
amount of nearby competition, he said.